Colorado

Head of Benghazi probe says no witnesses off limits, including Clinton

The Republican head of the Benghazi Select Committee warned Tuesday that no witnesses would be off limits in its upcoming probe and that he would consider going to court, if necessary, to compel testimony.
"I can't skip over a witness that I think we ought to talk to simply because there is an assertion of either privilege or immunity,"Chairman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina told Fox News in an exclusive interview.
He said that while he has received good cooperation to date, and the issue had not yet arisen, "if you mean to say that 'not only can they not talk, they don't have to come,' you have to litigate that."
Gowdy said the investigation will be driven by facts, characterizing as strongly bi-partisan his work with the committee's ranking Democrat, Elijah Cummings of Maryland, to review documents and identify witnesses.
He also said he anticipates the first public hearing will be held in September and will focus on the State Department investigation into the 2012 attack and whether its recommendations have been implemented.
Asked whether he wants Hillary Clinton to testify, Gowdy said, "I want everyone who has access to relevant information, and it is, I think, impossible to argue that the secretary of State at the time would not have access to relevant information..."
Gowdy said he was not trying to single out any particular witness. He insisted he was just as interested in the former acting director of the CIA, Michael Morell, who was accused of misleading Congress over the flawed “talking points” that blamed a protest for the assault, as he was in the unnamed CIA public information officer who made a significant edit of the points.
"Either talk to all of them," Gowdy said, "Or concede you are not interested in getting all the facts."
Gowdy also said he hoped former CIA Director David Petraeus, who remains under FBI investigation nearly two years after he resigned, would participate voluntarily.
"This is going to be serious, fact-centric. There are not going to be leaks. There are not going to be selective releases,” he said. “Hopefully, if the investigation is still ongoing, he (Petraeus) may conclude, he has an absolute right to conclude, that he is still going to participate."
Asked if the scope would extend to other current and former government and Congressional figures, including presidential adviser Ben Rhodes, former UN ambassador Susan Rice, and D.C.consulting group Beacon Global Strategies, Gowdy replied, "how can I run an investigation and at the end say that it was thorough and complete and fact-centric and fair if I began to rule out people that we're going to talk to?”
Beacon Global Strategies members include Clinton's principal gatekeeper, Philippe Reines, her former adviser for political and military affairs at State, Andrew Shapiro, the former chief of staff to Leon Panetta at CIA and the defense department, Jeremy Bash, as well as Michael Allen, the former staff director for the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee that investigated Benghazi.
The online bios of its founders and managing directors suggest no group knows more about the terrorist attack and the Obama administration’s response as well as having a vested interested in the scandal’s impact on Clinton’s presidential ambitions.
Gowdy said the fact-driven approach has derailed any attempts to minimize the importance of the committee's work. "The initial efforts to marginalize us as just a political exercise dedicated to drumming up the base, those efforts were not successful...Democrats are not only cooperating. They are suggesting, in some instances, other ideas for hearings. "
While the committee, which now stands at 13 staff but should reach its target of 20 by September, is focused on a detailed timeline to identify gaps in the facts, Gowdy said he believes closed or private depositions of witnesses as opposed to open hearings would provide the most information.
"Five minutes has proven time and time again to be an inadequate amount of time to get to the truth,"Gowdy explained. "I'm certainly not good enough in five minutes to unlock all the mysteries in the world. I might not be doing five hours but I would rather use whatever investigatory tool allows me the most amount of time with a witness or potential witness and I think that will be depositions as opposed to public hearings."
On Tuesday, the committee members met behind closed doors with the victims’ relatives including Pat Smith, the mother of foreign service officer Sean Smith.
"It's the one thing that I wanted was this investigation to get the answers,” Smith said. “And the people say that they're gonna do their best so this is what I'm hoping for."

Passions heated over proposed EPA rule on plant emissions

As a part of its controversial proposed rule to limit carbon emissions from existing power plants, the EPA held simultaneous public comment sessions in Washington, Atlanta and Denver Tuesday. The comments, designed to help shape the formulation of the final rule, may have complicated that task, given the often diametrically opposed opinions expressed.
At the Washington event, one of the speakers, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told the panel, "The planet is running a fever and there are no emergency rooms."
His admonition to address the urgent climate crisis contrasted with satellite data that shows no global surface warming for 17 years and 10 months. That, in turn, is at odds with NASA's findings that 2013 tied as the seventh warmest year since 1880.
Also at the Washington event, Anne Burchard of the Sierra Club warned climate change-induced extreme weather was already upon us. "We no longer need storms or hurricanes to produce flooding - it is becoming an everyday occurrence, "she said.
Contradicting her remark was NOAA data that shows tornado intensity and frequency well below normal, and other records that show the US in a hurricane drought.
The proposed EPA rule will require all power plants to limit carbon to 1,000 pounds per megawatt-hour of electricity - easily achieved with natural gas but unobtainable by present day coal plants.
Skeptics warned Tuesday the rule will kill domestic coal use, increase energy prices and force businesses to move abroad.
"Forcing energy intensive manufacturers off shore because of high energy costs accomplishes nothing environmentally and damages the domestic economy and employment, said Paul Cicio of Industrial Energy Consumers of America.
At the Denver hearing, Katharine McCormick of the Natural Resources Defense Council and a resident of Iowa, pointed to her state’s broad use of wind turbines to refute that point. "It's worth noting," she said, "that Iowa has some of cheapest electricity in the nation."
Both opponents and proponents of the rule touted carbon-conscious California as a case study for their cause.
Fred Palmer, representing Peabody Energy, a coal company,told the Washington panel, "Efficiency in California, which has been lauded by many, has been achieved by destruction with large manufacturing fleeing the state."
Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., told the panel that Palmer’s facts were wrong. "There's been erroneous testimony," she said. "California's electricity bills are 25 percent below average."
In fact, according to the Energy Information Administration, when all sectors -- residential, commercial, industrial and transportation -- are taken together, California's average of 13.60 cents per kilowatt hour is higher than the national average of 10.21 cents per kilowatt hour.
The back and forth will continue until Oct 16, the deadline for written comments. The EPA will release the final rule next year.

President Cartoon

Fox News poll: Voters say Obama should stay off 2014 campaign trail

We’re about four months out from the 2014 midterm elections. Yet, if they were held today -- which is how the question is posed to registered voters in the Fox News national poll -- 43 percent would support the Democratic candidate in their House district and 41 percent the Republican. 
A month ago the vote was tied at 42 percent apiece. In early June, Republicans had a four-point edge, while Democrats were up by three points in May. 
CLICK HERE TO READ THE POLL RESULTS
You get the picture: there’s lots of uncertainty and bouncing around. It’s just too soon to tell if there’s going to be a wave election, even though some political junkies can’t help from speculating about it. 
One thing that has been consistent for the last several months is the greater level interest in the upcoming elections among Republicans -- and that holds true again in the new poll. By a 14-point margin, more Republicans (70 percent) than Democrats (56 percent) are extremely or very interested in the election. Last month Republicans were more interested by 12 points. 
Among just those interested voters, this month’s generic ballot results show the Republican candidate with a seven-point edge over the Democrat (47-40 percent). A month ago it was an 11-point advantage for the GOP among interested voters (June 21-23).
At this point in the cycle four years ago, the Republican candidate had an 11-point advantage over the Democratic candidate on the generic ballot among all registered voters and President Obama’s job rating stood at 43 approve vs. 50 disapprove (July 27-28, 2010).
The Republican candidate was up by seven points among registered voters on the final Fox News poll before the 2010 midterms (46-39 percent). The Republicans went on to gain 63 seats in the U.S. House. At that time Obama’s job rating was 41 percent approve and 50 percent disapprove (Oct. 26-28, 2010). 
“The Republicans have the upper hand at this point, although it’s a little weaker than in 2010,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who jointly conducts the poll with Democratic pollster Chris Anderson. “Their main problem is that there are far fewer vulnerable Democratic seats to pick off this time around.” 
The president’s current job rating is 42 approve - 52 disapprove. 
The new poll re-asked a question from 2010 to test the president’s influence: if you were running for office as a Democratic candidate this year, would you want President Obama to campaign for you? While 41 percent of voters say yes, over half -- 57 percent -- say no, they wouldn’t want Obama on the campaign trail with them. 
In 2010 the results were much more balanced: 48 percent wanted the president to campaign for them, while 50 percent wanted him to stay home. 
Among Democrats, four years ago fully 82 percent wanted Obama to campaign on their behalf. That’s down to 69 percent in the new poll, a drop of 13 points. 
Among independents, 38 percent wanted Obama’s help in 2010 and 32 percent would take it today.
Meanwhile, almost everyone remains unhappy with current lawmakers: just 13 percent of voters approve of the job Congress is doing, while 79 percent disapprove. 
Hating on Congress is something large numbers of Democrats (74 percent disapprove), independents (82 percent) and Republicans (83 percent) are in agreement on. 
Approval of Congress has been below 20 percent for the last three years. 
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,057 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from July 20-22, 2014. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Illegal immigrants protest outside White House, with little fear of repercussions

Dismantling America.

Illegal immigrant demonstrators were protesting outside the White House on Monday – but don’t expect America’s immigration officers to intervene.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official indicated that even if the protesters end up getting arrested by D.C. police, they’d have to be serious criminals for ICE to get involved.
“Unless the individuals meet ICE’s enforcement priorities, it’s unlikely that the agency would get involved in the case,” the official told FoxNews.com.
Under a policy that’s been in effect for several years, ICE focuses deportation mostly on serious criminals and – in some cases -- those caught in the act of crossing the border. The agency prioritizes deportation for felons, repeat offenders, gang members and others with a serious criminal record. But the agency largely gives a pass to other undocumented residents.
This is why illegal immigrant activists can protest outside the White House without worrying too much about ICE.  
They did so at lunchtime on Monday, marching across Lafayette Park to the White House and advocating a reprieve for illegal immigrant parents who brought their children to the U.S. – and whose children have benefited from a separate reprieve issued in 2012 by the Department of Homeland Security.
According to The Washington Times, illegal immigrant protesters also planned to demonstrate outside the White House on Monday afternoon, to call on immigration groups to boycott any administration meetings until illegal immigrants are included in those talks.

Human Shields

Michelle Obama complains about money's influence on politics, then asks for 'fat check'

First lady Michelle Obama is complaining on the fundraising circuit about the evils of money in politics -- while also asking Democratic Party supporters to “write a big fat check” before the November elections.
“So, yeah, there’s too much money in politics,” Obama said during a fundraiser Thursday in her hometown of Chicago. “There are special interests that have too much influence.”
However, she quickly pivoted and urged attendees at least twice to write a hefty check.
“There is something you can do right now today to make a difference and that is to write a big, fat check. I kid you not,” she told the crowd of about 150 at the Waldorf Astoria Chicago. “I’m going to be honest with you. That’s what we need you to do right now. We need you to write the biggest, fattest check that you can possibly write.”
Beyond helping Democrats win in the fall midterms, the money is needed to help President Obama make progress on his political agenda in the final two years of his presidency amid relentless Republican opposition.
“It’s gotten so bad, they’re even trying to block the work that I do on childhood obesity, and that’s really saying something,” the first lady said. “I mean, for most folks in this country, making sure our kids get decent nutrition shouldn’t be that controversial.”
She continued asking for fall elections money by saying: “Writing those checks is the single most impactful thing you can do right now. When you dig deep, when you max out, that translates into staff hired and offices opened and ads running where they need to run.
“You need to dig deep and you need to get everyone you know out to vote this November.”
Tickets for the event started at $500 a person and scaled upward to special donations of $10,000 and $20,000 per couple.